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Wednesday,
Feb. 22, 2006
THE
SIMPLE GESTURE of hand holding can have
a powerful effect on married women under
stress, according to U.Va. neuroscientist
Dr. James
Coan (left), author of a study that measured
neurological reactions to human touch in
a threatening situation, and how the brain
facilitates the health-enhancing properties
of close social relationships. Findings
showed that when the women were subjected
to the threat of a mild electric shock,
there was a large decrease in the brain’s
response to threat when they held their
spouse’s hand. The higher the quality of
the women’s marriage, the more powerful
the decrease in threat-related brain activity. Full
story.
U.Va.
Health System
The
University of Virginia’s School of
Law will host the annual J.B. Moore Society
of International Law Symposium on “Democracy
in the Middle East: Prospect for Political
Reform,” on Friday in Caplin Pavilion
and Withers-Brown Room 152. The day-long
event, free and open to the public, will
include panel discussions on one of the
most urgent
political,
economic
and cultural issues of our time: democracy
building in the Middle East. Peter Ackerman,
chairman of Freedom House, an independent
nongovernmental organization that supports
the expansion of freedom in the world,
will give the keynote address titled “How
Freedom Is Won.” Full
story.
U.Va.
Law School
The
University of Virginia Department
of Biomedical Engineering is among a
select group of
bioengineering departments to receive a
Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Translational
Partners Award. The $2.9 million award — $580,000
per year for the next five years — aims
to speed discoveries from labs to the marketplace
and will support multiple translational
research projects involving biomedical
engineering faculty and clinical co-investigators
in U.Va.’s School of Medicine. “Thanks
to the Coulter Foundation’s generosity,
we will be able to create a new culture
that accelerates biomedical technology
transfer and commercialization,” said
Thomas C. Skalak (left), U.Va. professor
and chair of biomedical engineering. Full
story.
The
U.S. & Nigeria: A Complex But Vital
Relationship 4
p.m., Harrison Institute Auditorium, Special
Collections Library • Speaker: George
Obiozor, Ambassador of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria • Part of U.Va.’s Ambassador
Lecture Series.
Inside
UVA is the
University’s Faculty
and Staff Newsletter. Published every
other Friday by the Office
of University Relations.
